3 students charged: Gun found on campus at Toisnot

Three students at Toisnot Middle School were charged Tuesday with possession of a weapon on school grounds. The three, all under 15, are in custody in Pitt Juvenile Detention Center.

According to the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office, the school’s resource officer was told around 3:10 p.m. Tuesday that a student had a gun at the school.

“The school resource officer immediately followed up on the information once it was presented to her,” according to a news release from Wanda Samuel, Wilson County Sheriff’s Office chief of staff. “The student was immediately removed from his classroom and admitted to the deputy that he did have a gun in his possession,” she said.

The student was searched, according to the release, and a gun was found and removed from his pocket.

During the investigation, sheriff detectives learned that two other students had been in possession of the weapon as well.

“The three students had passed the weapon off to each other throughout the course of the day in means of keeping the gun hidden from law enforcement,” Samuel said.

“The Wilson County Sheriff’s Office has a zero tolerance of any type of weapon on the school campuses and will continue to work in collaboration with Wilson County Schools’ administration on such incidents,” said Sheriff Calvin Woodard.

“The safety of our educational facilities will continue to be a top priority without any existence of violence, guns and drugs.

“I am truly appreciative of the school staff, students and parents and how instrumental they are in preventing violence at our schools. I am extremely proud of the school resource officers and detectives who worked throughout the night on these cases,” he said. “I hope that these young men take in consideration the tragedy such an incident can cause and one day have the opportunity to rebuild on their lives.”